Fatigued Murali chooses to stay home

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Cricket Australia remains confident of strong crowds in Darwin and Cairns for next month's Top End Test series against Sri Lanka even though the two matches will be without one and possibly both of their biggest drawcards.

Test wickets record-holder Muttiah Muralitharan yesterday confirmed he would not make the tour, as had been expected. He put forward an excuse of "personal reasons" in a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket, which had offered the off spinner the option of missing the tour despite hoping he would play.

Muralitharan, 32, has mentioned fatigue in recent days but he has seemed highly unlikely to tour since Prime Minister John Howard several weeks ago lowered Murali's scant regard for Australia by branding him a chucker.

Promoters have been robbed of the chance to hype the two Tests as a battle between the two most successful spinners of all time. Ordinarily, a handy fall-back option would be to promote the series as the opportunity to see Shane Warne take the 11 wickets he needs to usurp Muralitharan's world record of 527 scalps, but Warne remains in doubt for the series after last week breaking a bone in his left hand playing county cricket.

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With no Muralitharan, Sri Lanka should represent only minor opposition, regardless of whether Warne or his likely replacement Stuart MacGill is the rival spinner.

Still, CA chief executive James Sutherland is expecting the cricketing public of Darwin and Cairns to provide large crowds for the Tests, which start on July 1 and 9 respectively, following a promising response to the first Top End series against Bangladesh last year.

"We're disappointed that Murali has decided not to tour Australia," Sutherland said.

"Nevertheless, with the world's best cricket team ready and raring to go, we're confident the two Test matches in Darwin and Cairns will be memorable events. Ricky Ponting will play his first Test on home soil as captain of the Australian side, while Shane Warne, if fit, now has an opportunity to become the leading wicket-taker in the world. Glenn McGrath is also due to make his Test comeback."

Muralitharan has said he will tour Australia in future, even though it has been the scene of the lowest ebbs of the chucking controversy that has followed his career, and he is regularly tormented by Australian crowds.

Aside from expressing a wish for rest, Muralitharan has also voiced dissatisfaction with the choice of venues. "They have not given important places to us," Muralitharan said recently. "We are playing in the Northern Territory, like smaller teams that aren't powerful enough. Other teams come and play in Sydney and Melbourne. Before we were playing in those areas."

Sri Lankan team manager Ajit Jayasekara, speaking with AFP, said Muralitharan's teammates had backed his decision: "We are totally supportive of his decision because we have seen the trauma he has been put through in recent weeks."